June 16, 1997 Port Townsend, WA


Day 9 & 10 "Glacier and The Cascades"

I worry sometimes that I might run out of material for these ride reports, but it seems that as long as we're riding shit happens and caca occurs so lets get right down to it shall we? Sunday morning in Great Falls, MT was beautiful. For the first time since we left Greensboro, there was no chance of rain for the day. We had treated ourselves with nothing but the finest accomodations last night at the Evergreen Hotel. Twenty eight dollars and 1 cent was our total bill at checkout. Oh well, the price was right and the shower worked. Our plan for the day was to explore Glacier National Park and we pulled out of the parking lot at 8am. Dave took off first and led the way. He seems to enjoy leading our rides although we split the duty 50/50. Alright, so it's 60/40 him. Maybe riding behind the pontoon hard luggage on the GTS1000 blocks his view. Don't laugh!!! They help tremendously on water crossings and he enjoys a nice boost in gas mileage when he drafts behind them!

For breakfast we chose the town of Browning, MT on the Blackfeet Reservation 123 miles away. We called it our Bonzai to Browning! An hour and a half later, we were there. Remember, this is Montana-bahn! The are small, six inch rodents, Lemmings I believe, that dart into our path constantly on these rural routes. We've yet to hit one but I know that one received a haircut this morning from my right footpeg. Another disconcerting factor of traveling this area is "Free Range Cattle". We saw a bloody aftermath this morning involving one of these beast and it makes me wonder what a "Close Encounter of the Elsie Kind" would be like on a motorcycle. I don't want to think about it anymore.

We headed for East Glacier to find out if the Road to the Sun and Logan Pass were open yet. These roads are not to be missed according to our pre-trip queries but due to the weather don't usually open until mid-June. On the way to their entrance at St. Marys the GTS felt wierd. I keyed the mic on the chatterbox and said "Houston....uh Dave, we have a problem!" The back wanted to trade places with the front in the turns. After being told that Logan Pass was still closed due to weather, we parked the bikes to examine the situation. I pushed on the rear tire with my thumb and the problem was found. It's going flat! With the bike on the centerstand I turned the wheel until the culprit was revealed. A rock....that's right.....a rock!! Not a nail, but a rock! Dave offered his leatherman tool and I extracted this long pointed piece of gravel from the tire. With two flat repair kits in hand, I begin my work. Now Dave, who hasn't paid much attention to my multi-media activities since we left Greensboro, all of a sudden becomes Alan Funt! He grabs my camcorder, my digital camera, and my PHD(Push Here Dummy) 35mm camera and starts clicking away while getting quite the chuckle. "It's your turn now buddy! Say hi to the parents, the wife and everyone in Cyberworld!" Now wait a minute! I believe I was VERY sympathetic to YOUR bad furtune earlier this week! OKAY, I'LL SMILE!!

With a plug securely in place and the spit test pasted, we get back on the road. Since The Road to the Sun was closed, we took Rt. 89 from East Glacier to West Glacier and Rt. 2 west to Bonners Ferry, Idaho. We'll miss Montana but hope to return again someday. Tomorrow, we'll ride Rt. 20 through the Cascades in Washington and spend the night somewhere in the Seattle area. I've called ahead to my friends near San Francisco to order a new rear tire. Once again the adventure continues.

Anyone care to guess what time the sun rises in Bonners Ferry, ID? 4:15am!! Whaz up wif dat? Well, Dave and I were up wif dat and got on the road by 5:45am. We had a lot of miles to ride today so we started with another banzai run to breakfast. This time it was Kettle Falls, WA. Home of 1255 friendly people, 1 grouch and 1992 Miss America. Think I'm kidding, check out the pictures. We had a superb breakfast at Barney's Restaurant then headed up Rt. 20 toward the Northern Cascades.

It takes a few hours to get to the good stuff so the mind begins to wander. Introspection is constant whenever the mind and body are pushed to these levels simultaneously. I began to think about my marriage, job, family, politics and religion. If any aspect of your life bothered you when you began your journey, it becomes huge along the way. You start to doubt yourself and some of your life's ways, including the decision to take this trip. Whenever I fall into this pattern, I like to concentrate on my riding! Technique, smoothness, shifting, braking. It helped that we were heading into some nice twistys so today I worked on peg pressures and body steering. Outside peg, inside peg, countersteering, it's all effective once you learn how they affect the bike, even one as large as the GTS.

Before I knew it, we were near the Washington Pass Overlook and seeing some incredible sights. Dave and I pulled out to pass a Blazer and realized that the large object on the opposing shoulder was a moose. Nice girl......sit, stay! As we passed by, she made a darting move back into the woods. Seems she was as scared as us! Cresting the Cascades and descending into Seattle, we decided to stay with Rt. 20 and take the ferry from Keystone Landing to Port Townsend. This would put us in great position for our run down Rt. 101 on the coast tomorrow. Today was relatively uneventful! The bikes are doing great and our bodies are adjusting to the conditions. Tomorrow, we'll begin our journey south toward Northern California.